Summary of

Communicative English
Skills I
Unit 1: Study Skills

What is Lecture?

"An oral presentation intended to present information intended to present

information or teach people about a particular subject and used to convey

critical information, history, background, theories and equations" Wikipedia.

An educational talk to an audience specially one of the students in a university.

Deliver an educational lecture or lectures

What is Lecturer?

An academic expert who is hired to teach on a full/part-time basis. They may

also conduct research. ‘Wikipedia'

A person who gives Lectures, specially as a n occupation at a University or

college of higher education.

A person who gives speeches and presentations.

What do the following word mean?

Transient: Not lasting long; passing quickly as in speech

Distractions: Things that make it difficult to pay attention or concentrate

during listening

Verbatim: Word to word, writing down exactly as spoken

Discriminating: Recognizing differences; selecting.

Cues: Anything said or done that serves as a signal.

 Modals

Modals: Special verbs which behave irregularly in English and they give

additional information about the function of the main verbs that

follows it.

A type of auxiliary (helping) verb that is used to express; ability, possibility,

permission or obligation.

Some characteristics of modals

They never change their form, you can't add ‘s', ‘ed', ‘ing' …

They are always followed by an infinitive without "to" (i.e. the bare infinitive)

No. Type Modal verbs Examples

Dawit can write poetry very well

Ability Can, Could
He could speak fluent English when he was 15

Can I sit in that chair please?

Permission Can, Could, May
Could I open the window?

May I borrow your dictionary?

Advise Should The proposal should be finished on time

You must speak politely to the customers

Obligation Must, Have to
Beza doesn't have to drive to the airport
 You may start the exam now
Possibility May, Might, Could, Can
Our company might get the order if the client
agrees to the price

Infinitives: is formed from a verb but doesn't act as a verb. It acts as a noun,

adjective or adverb and it is actually made up of two words: to + verb. These

two words act together as a noun, adjective or adverb.

Note: Because an infinitive is not a verb you cannot add s, es, ed or ing to the

end ever.

Examples: to sneeze, to smash, to cry, to jump, to shriek, …

Giving Advice-Modal Verbs

Talk about these advice questions with a partner

Please give some advice; I have got an exam tomorrow!

If you could talk to the prime minister of the country, what advice would you

give him?

What advice would you give to someone who is going to sit for a job interview?

Paragraph Writing-Agony Aunt

Answer one of 3 letters of anxious people looking for advice. They have written to

Agony Aunt and are waiting for an answer. Can you help them? Use any suitable

modal verb. You can also use the modal perfect verbs to give advice about the past.

Dear Auntie ______________

I have been with my boyfriend for three years now. He asked me to marry him last

week and I am not sure what to say. I do love him but he doesn't have a good job.

He works as a chef in a dirty restaurant and I really want to be rich. Please help

me.

Thanks

Sarah

Dear Auntie ______________

Please help me. I lost my job as a manager of a big bank last month and I haven't

had the courage to tell my wife and family about it. My wife and two children spend

a lot of money everyday and if they found out that they were poor they would be

upset. I hope I can find a job soon, but lately I have been pretending to go work

every day. What should I do?

Thank

James

Dear Anne _____________

I am currently in my second year at university doing business studies. I've found

that the academic aspect of this year is a lot harder and that the general process

is becoming far from what I expected. I absolutely love the social aspect of the

university but have decided to leave and get a job as a really want to start a

career. However, I tried to talk to my mum about this. She said the obvious and

told me to ‘stick it out'. My dad however is fairly aggressive in this manner and I'm

afraid at how he will react to my telling him I wish to leave.

Thanks

Susan

Reading

Wikipedia defines reading as the complex cognitive process of decoding symbols to

derive meaning. It is a form of language processing. There are four common types

of reading, and they are listed below.

Skimming: Skimming is sometimes referred to as gist reading.

Skimming may help in order to know what the text is about at its most basic level.
You might typically do this with a magazine or newspaper and would help you
mentally and quickly shortlist those articles which you might consider for a deeper
read.

You might typically skim to search for a name in a telephone directory.

You can reach a speed count of even 700 words per minute if you train yourself well in
this particular method.

Comprehension is of course very low and understanding of overall content very

superficial.

Skimming will certainly save you a lot of time.

But as stated above, it is not the best way to read because your comprehension will
be lowered.

However, skimming is useful when your goal is to preview the text to get a better
idea of what it's about. It will help prepare you for deeper learning.

As learning expert and author Pat Wyman says in her book, Instant Learning for
Amazing Grades, skimming is a terrific idea to get an overview and mental picture in
your mind.

This strategy makes it much easier to recall what you're about to read.
 Take a look at the table of contents first.

Review the subheadings in each chapter

Quickly read the first paragraph in that section

Check out anything in your text that is in bold or italics

If there is a chapter summary, now is a good time read it over.

Scanning: involves getting your eyes to quickly scuttle across sentence and is
used to get just a simple piece of information.

Interestingly, research has concluded that reading off a computer screen actually
inhibits the pathways to effective scanning and thus, reading of paper is far more
conducive to speedy comprehension of texts.

Intensive Reading: You need to have your aims clear in mind when
undertaking intensive reading.

Remember this is going to be far more time consuming than scanning or skimming.
If you need to list the chronology of events in a long passage, you will need to read
it intensively. This type of reading has indeed beneficial to language learners as it
helps them understand vocabulary by deducing the meaning of words in context. It
moreover, helps with retention of information for long periods of time and
knowledge resulting from intensive reading persists in your long-term memory. This
is one reason why reading huge amounts of information just before an exam does
not work very well. Students tend to do this, and they undertake neither type of
reading process effectively, especially neglecting intensive reading. They may
remember the answers in an exam but will likely forget everything soon
afterwards.

Extensive reading: involves reading for pleasure.

Because there is an element of enjoyment in extensive reading it is unlikely that

students will undertake extensive reading of a text they do not like. It also
requires a fluid decoding and assimilation of the text and content in front of you.
If the text is difficult and you stop every few minutes to figure out what is being
said or to look up new words in the dictionary, you are breaking your concentration
and diverting your thoughts.

Present perfect tense

The present perfect tense refers to an action or state that either occurred at an

indefinite time in the past (e.g., we have talked before) or began in the past and

continued to the present time (e.g., he has grown impatient over the last hour). Or

in short, we use Present Perfect tense to talk about action which started in the

past and continues up to the present. For and since are used with the present

perfect to indicate time. We use for to talk about a period of time (a few days,

half an hour, two years...) ... We have worked for 2 hours. This tense is formed by

have/has + the past participle.

The construction of this verb tense is straightforward. The first element is have

or has, depending on the subject the verb is conjugated with. The second element

is the past participle of the verb, which is usually formed by adding -ed or -d to

the verb's root (e.g., walked, cleaned, typed, perambulated, jumped, laughed,

sautéed) although English does have quite a few verbs that have irregular past

participles (e.g., done, said, gone, known, won, thought, felt, eaten).

Examples

I have walked on this path before.

We have eaten the lasagna here.

To determine whether has or have, we only have a look at the singularity and
plurality of a given subject except ‘I'.
 Conditional sentences

What is conditional sentence?

Wikipedia defines Conditional sentences as a sentence expressing factual

implications, or hypothetical situations and their consequences.

Conditional sentences are in the conditional mood, which is used for hypothetical
scenarios that are dependent on a certain condition or conditions. They are usually
constructed using if to identify the conditions that must be met. Most of the time
it is known having two parts; If clause and main clause. There are four types of
conditionals all of which vary in structure and meaning.

Zero condition this kind of sentence uses to talk about what is always or
generally true. In a sense, talks about things which always happen under
certain condition and always true. Both if clause and main clause of this
condition are from simple present tense.

And, its structure is if + subject + present tense of predicate verb,

subject + present tense of main verb.

Examples

If you throw a ball in the air, it comes back down.

If we get up early, we always go jogging

 First conditional/conditional sentence type 1/probable condition

This kind of structure used for talking about things which are possible in the
present or the future things which may happen.

And, its structure is if + simple present tense + simple future tense

Examples

If you study hard, you will pass the test.

If I see him, I will tell him

Second conditional/conditional sentence type 2/improbable condition

This condition is used to talk about things which are unreal (not true or not

possible) in the present or the future or things which don't or won't happen.

And, its structure is if + simple past tense + present conditional tense.

Examples

If I were Ethiopian prime minister, I would jail Former chief of spy Getachew

Assefa. (subjunctive mood)

If you studied hard, you would pass the exam.

Which one is correct - if I were you or if I was you?

The word ‘were' in the phrase if I were you is special form. It is known as the
subjunctive mood (from the grammatical point of view).

Today you also find the phrase if I was you. Here Simple Past form of be is used.
But there are people who say that this phrase is incorrect and would never use it
(mainly Americans). Others say that this phrase can be used.
 If I were you, I would phone him. → subjunctive mood

If I was you, I would phone him. → Simple Past

Third conditional/conditional sentence type 3/impossible condition

Finally, this condition is used to talk about things which did not happen in the past.

It is often used to express criticism or regret.

We can structure this condition as if + past perfect + perfect conditional tense.

Examples

If I had been more prepared, I would have passed that test.

If she had been there, she could have helped you.

In short conditional sentence looks like the following in the form of table.

SN Types Uses If clause Main clause

1 Zero Something is a general or Simple present Simple present

conditional scientific fact and definition. tense tense

There is no doubt.
(s+v1+s/es +o) (s+v1+s/es +o)

If I press this The machine

button, starts.

2 First Something happens if the Simple present Simple future

conditional condition is met. The tense

 possibility of the condition

being met is quite high. It is tense

(s+ will/shall+v1+o)
used to express real
(s+v1+s/es +o)
conditions in the present. We will repeat the

If we continue 1991 error again.

to fight each

other,

3 Second Something happens if the Simple past Present conditional

conditional condition is met. The tense tense

(imaginary or possibility of the condition (s+would+v1+o)

(s+v2+o)
unreal being met is quite low. It is
I would buy a V8
condition) also used to show hypothetical If I were rich,
Car.
conditions in the present or

future and their hypothetical (Modals such as

results in the present or might and could
future. can be used

instead of would in

the result clause.)

4 Third Something happens if the Past perfect Perfect conditional

conditional condition is met but the tense tense

(impossible condition can never be met as (s+would+have+v3+

(s+had+v3+o)
condition) we are talking about past o)

time. It is used for

 hypothetical conditions in
If you hadn't You could have

had a

the past and their results in

lot of luck, lost all your money.
the past.

Illustrative Examples.

If I were you, I would accept the job. (You are not me so you didn't accept the

job.)

If he were a better driver, he wouldn't crash the car. (He is not a good driver

so he crashed the car.)

If he had left immediately, he would have here now. ( He didn't leave immediately

and isn't here.)

If I had studied hard when I was young, I wouldn't be a porter now. (I didn't

study and I am a porter.)

If we hadn't told him the way while he was preparing for his journey, he would

have lost now. (We told him and he isn't lost.)

If she had finished earlier, she would have gone to the party tonight. (She

didn't finish earlier so she isn't going to the party.)

Activity 1: Match the beginnings of the sentences to the correct endings, to

make logical conditional sentences.

1 If I were taller, A …if I thought he really loved me.

2 I'd buy a new computer… B …you lost your job?
3 How would you feel if… C …if you apologized.
4 If you could visit any country in the world, D … I'd come to the party with you.

5 He'd be really upset… E …if he knew about the theft.

6 I'd marry him tomorrow… F … I wouldn't have to wear high

heeled shoes.
7 I'd forgive you… G …if I had enough money.
8 If I didn't feel so ill, H …, where would you go?
Activity 2: Choose the 5 words and arrange in correct order to complete each

sentence.

……marry him, would you say yes? he to if would asked asks you she

How would we keep in touch ……? to didn't we have if did computers

………if the pay was lower than it is? leave you left job your if would

If she…, … … … going out with her. he beautiful wouldn't isn't wasn't being be

If people …… …, ……be fewer wars. more would there tolerant wouldn't where are

If you…, … be able to communicate. speak spoke couldn't wouldn't we English

Activity 3: Rewrite the following sentences beginning with the words given:

Take these pills three times a day and you'll soon feel better.

If you_______________________________________________.

Tell me your address. I might need it.

 Tell me your address in case_______________________________.

Buy some aspirins. You might need them during your journey.

Buy some aspirins in case__________________________________.

Write down my telephone number. There's a chance you will need it.

Write down my telephone number in__________________________.

She is very shy; that's why she doesn't enjoy parties.

If___________________________________________________.

I didn't know he was so quarrelsome, I'm sorry now that I invited him.

If___________________________________________________.

People should not be allowed to keep pets if they don't look after them properly.

Unless________________________________________________.

We'll lend you the money because you can guarantee payment.

We'll lend you the money___________________________________.

I always take a pen with me because I might have to write something.

I always take a pen with me in______________________________.

I didn't pay attention to my doctor's advice and I got sick.

 If I ________________________________________________.

Activity 4: Complete the text by putting the verbs in brackets into the

correct tense.

If I were world leader, I (1) would try(try) to stop the destruction of the earth and

I (2) ______ (make) the world a better place for all people. If the world's problems

had been tackled sooner, the quality of life (3) ______ (improve) long ago. First of

all, I would try to bring about peace in the world. As long as there is fighting between

nations, millions of people (4) _______ (continue) to suffer and die. If wars continue,

children (5) ______ (be left) without parents and (6) ______ (grow up) in a world of

misery and fear. But as long as people disagree over land and possessions, the

fighting. (7) ________ (go on). Therefore, I would ensure that all people were

treated as equals and given the same opportunities in life. It would also help if all

countries (8) ________ (stop) producing arms so there would no longer be the

weapons with which to fight. In addition, I would introduce laws to reduce pollution.

If pollution levels (9) ______ (control) earlier, life (10) ______ (not/become) so

unbearable. If I (11) ________ (have) the power, I would ban all cars from city

centers and increase public transport. If there were more trees, the air we breathe

(12) _______ (be) cleaner. Unless measures are taken soon, it (13) ______ (be) too

late both for ourselves and our children.

Denotation and Connotation

Denotation is the actual meaning of a word without any reference to any associations or

emotions of the word. For example, the denotation of word red is just color red but its

connotation is danger.
Connotations, on the other hand, are the feelings or emotions associated with a word. It

goes beyond the actual meaning of the word and paints a picture or invokes a feeling.

The denotation of this example is a red rose with a green stem. The
connotation is that it is a symbol of passion and love - this is what the
rose represents.

The denotation is a representation of a cartoon heart. The connotation is a

symbol of love and affection.

The denotation is a brown cross. The connotation is a symbol of religion, according

to the media connotation. However, to be more specific this is a symbol of
Christianity.

The present simple, past simple, present perfect and past perfect tenses in
contrast.

Past Present Future

Past simple Present simple Future simple

I studied English I study English I will study English

Past perfect Present perfect Future perfect

I had studied English I have studied English I will have studied English

Past continuous Present continuous Future continuous

I was studying English I am studying English I will be studying English

Past perfect continuous Present perfect continuous Future perfect continuous

I had been studying I have been studying I will have been studying

English English English

Activity 3.2.1: Tenses in context

First of all, read the following article quickly just to have a feel of the experience

of the tourist who visited the Mursi tribe. Then, reread the passage to identify

the verbs in the article and write as many verbs as you can in the correct

column in the table below the article.

No Shortage of Lip in the Mursi Tribe

This morning's visit to

the Mursi tribe, the one

whose women wear lip

plates, was supposed to

be a case of ‘leaving the

best till last', but in

fact was a bit of a

letdown. After yet another drive along a windy, corrugated dirt road, complete

with potholes that were now filled with water after heavy overnight rain, we finally

reached the Mursi village on the outskirts of the Mago National Park in just under

2 hours. It was a compact settlement comprising around three dozen grass huts,

but very few people. Our guide advised that most of the men were out on

cultivation jobs and children at school, so most of those we saw were older women.

And of these, only one was wearing a lip plate (but not the bright shiny design you

see in all the glossy brochures), while a few others obviously had taken theirs out

and just had the hole in the lower lip. On the one hand, I don't mind this as it at

least allows us to witness life as it is, rather than some artificial dressing up purely

for commercial purposes, but it was certainly a letdown after our previous tribe

visits.

I had heard from previous tourists that the attitude of the Mursi was "take my

photo, give me your money, then get the hell out of here", so at least we didn't

encounter any of that. I think the main item of interest was the advice that the

dowry for giving your daughter in marriage was 40 head of cattle and one

Kalashnikov AK47 rifle. When I asked where they were able to obtain the latter,

the response was "Oh, we just go over the border a short distance away into South

Sudan and swap it for a few head of cattle‖”! So that in a nutshell were our Omo

Valley tribal visits, which have not only given a good insight into their respective

cultures but into life in general in this remote region of Ethiopia.

On our return to Addis Ababa, we had a full day and two nights. We gave our

original airport B&B a big miss this time and booked instead into the very grand

sounding (but fairly ordinary) Churchill International Boutique Hotel in a slightly

more upmarket part of town. But trust me, ‘more upmarket' is still relative and this
is an extremely poor country still, with infrastructure very basic, traffic a

shamble, people everywhere and no shortage of beggars on the street wherever

you go. The only time we ventured out to any degree was to the Mercato Market,

deemed as the largest open-air market in Africa. It was massive, bustling, and

choking with cars and people, but I guess for the participants it was just another

day at the office.

So that now completes our five weeks visit to East Africa. Having just completed

one of the most interesting and satisfying trips that I have ever done, to five

countries each with stunning scenery, fascinating cultures, and people who showed

tremendous warmth and hospitality despite their lack of affluence, I can now sit

back and ponder on the highlights and also reflect on some of the differences

between their cultures and ours that I observed over the duration of my journey.

Probably my individual highlight was the exhilaration of the whitewater rafting on

the Zambezi, but each of the lemurs in Madagascar, the range of animals and birds

on the safari circuit, and the various tribes of the Omo Valley in Ethiopia will stay

in my memories for a long time…

Present simple Past simple Present perfect Past perfect

Reflect, Advised,

Activity 3.2.2: Uses of tenses

Match each type of tense in A to its use in B and compare your answers with

your neighbor's. Each tense has more than one use.

 A B

Present simple expresses an experience that happened at some time in

one's life

Past simple makes clear that one action in the past happened before

another action in the past

Present perfect expresses an action that happens again and again

Past perfect expresses a finished action in the past

expresses an action that began in the past and still

continues

expresses a fact that is true for a long time

expresses a past action that has a present result

expresses a past situation or habit

expresses a fact that is always true

Work in pairs and decide what use the verb in each sentence expresses.

I go to work by car.

Ronaldo comes from Portugal

He works in a bank.
I went to Adama last week.

When I was a child, we lived in a small house by the sea. Every day I walked for

miles on the beach with my dog.

I did not go to the cinema because I had seen the film before.

We have lived in the same house for 25 years.

Have you ever had an operation?

What have you done to your lip? (It's bleeding)

Complete the blank spaces using the verbs given in brackets.

I work for a company that _________ printers. (make)

This photo of her __________ on holiday last year. (take)

I _________ her since 2008. (not see)

I _______ the newspaper every morning. (read)

When I visited her she ________ bed-ridden for six months. (be)

Janet _______ home. (go)

She ________ many awards for her contribution to classical music. (win)

The boys were playing games when it ________ raining. (start)

How long _______ you _______ a social activist? (be)

We _______ each other for a long time. (know)

Since 2011 they ______ their son every year. (visit)

 After Larry _________ the film on TV, he decided to buy the book. (see)

Activity 3.2.3: Using tenses in writing

Write a paragraph of about 100 words in class outlining your experiences on your

first day on campus and what has happened to you so far by using the four types of

tenses you have studied in this unit. Read the paragraph to your neighbor; some of

you will be selected by your teacher to read your paragraphs to the whole class.

______________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________

_____________________.

Collocation

Identifying collocations of ‘population'

Collocation is that behavior of the language by which two or more words go

together, in speech or writing. There are about six main types of collocations:

adjective + noun, noun + noun (such as collective nouns), verb + noun, adverb +

adjective, verbs + prepositional phrase (phrasal verbs), and verb + adverb.

Wikipedia. Or;

Collocation is a sequence of words or terms that co-occur (affiliated with each

other) in a conventional style. In other words, collocations are partly or fully fixed

expressions that become established through repeated context-specific use. Such

terms as 'crystal clear', 'middle management', 'nuclear family', ‘pay attention',

‘fast food', ‘make an effort' and 'cosmetic surgery' are examples of collocated

pairs of words.

Voices

Activity 5.4.1: Active and passive constructions

 Study the following sentences taken from the text on population pyramid.

People who study population have developed a special kind of bar graph to show

how the population of an area is divided by age and by sex.

This kind of graph is called a population pyramid or age-sex pyramid.

The shape of a population pyramid is determined by a country's age structure and

sex ratio.

This shape represents a rapid decrease in birthrates.

It may also be influenced by migration into and out of the country.

A beehive shape characterizes a third type of population pyramid.

Now, answer the following questions about the above sentences.

In which sentence does the subject perform the action stated by the verb?

In which sentences is the subject acted upon?

Which sentences are in active voice and which are in passive voice?
Briefly, a sentence is in the active form when the subject of the sentence

performs the action in the sentence as of "The girl was washing the dog" and

passive when the subject of the sentence has an action done to it by someone or

something else as of "The dog was being washed".

Tense Active sentence Passive sentence

Simple present tense S+v1+s/es +o S+ am/is/are+v3

He delivers the letters. The letters are delivered.

Present continues tenseS+ vtb (pre)+ MV +ing +o S+ is/am/are+being+v3

He is delivering the letters. The letters are being delivered.

Present perfect tense S+ vth (has/have) +v3+o S+ has/have+been+v3

He has delivered the The letters have been delivered.

letters.

Present perfect S+ vth (has/have) + been + _______________

continues tense MV+ ing

This tense is not used in passive

Harvard has been awarding sentence instead adverb may be

BA/BSc, MA/MSc/ and PhD used to show continuing.

to students across the

world for over 100 years.

Simple past tense S+v2+0 S+ was/were+v3

He delivered the letters. The letters were delivered.

Past continues tense S+ vtb(past)+ MV +ing +o S+ was/were+being+v3

 He was delivering the The letters were being delivered.

letters.

Past perfect tense S+had+v3+o S+had+been+v3

He had delivered the The letters had been delivered.

letters.

Past perfect continues S+ had+ been+ MV+ ing

tense
Emiru had been trying to This tense is not used in passive

tell his father about Sifan sentence

for a long time.

Simple future S+ will/shall+v1+s/es +o S+ will+be+v3

He will deliver the letters. The letters will be delivered.

Future continues tense S+ will/shall+ be+ MV+ ing Not used in passive.

He will be delivering the

letters.

Future perfect tense S+ will/shall+ have+ V3 Not used in passive.

He will have delivered the

letters.

Future perfect S+ will/shall+ have+ been+ Not used in passive

continues tense MV+ ing

 He will have been delivering

the letters.

When to use passive sentence?

When the agent (the person who does the action) is unknown, unimportant or

obvious from the context.

Gada was shot. (We don't know who shot him)

Haramaya was built in 1946.E.C. (unimportant agent)

He has been arrested. (Obviously by the police)

To make more polite or formal statement.

The office hasn't been cleaned. (Politer)

You haven't cleaned the office. (Less polite)

When the action is more important than the agent.

30 people were killed in Ethiopian Moyale.

To put emphasis on the agent.

The new sugar factory will be opened by the prime minister.